LoRa Based IoT Carbon Monoxide Monitoring System (LoIMo)

Team Leader :

Team Members

Brenda Lai Xin Ru

The call to achieve carbon neutrality must be answered. While carbon monoxide (CO) is a colourless and odourless gas that does not cause climate change directly, its presence affects the abundance of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane. The source and causes of carbon monoxide are often overlooked by our society and go unnoticed. Hence, our team proposed to build our device named LoiMo for individuals, organizations and communities to enhance carbon monoxide awareness within their surroundings.

Components used in our device:
1. Arduino UNO
2. Piezo Buzzer
3. Carbon Monoxide Sensor - MQ-9
4. LED
5. LCD
6. 18650 lithium battery
7. TTGO T-Beam

(LoIMo: Functionality and Innovation )
LoIMo is a carbon monoxide monitoring system that will be able to monitor the level of carbon monoxide with an MQ-9 Carbon Monoxide sensor. The sensor has high sensitivity towards carbon monoxide where it makes detection by method of cycle high and low temperature, and detect CO when low temperature (heated by 1.5V). MQ-9 sensor will collect the data from the surrounding environment which the collected data will then be transferred to the Arduino to be read and interpreted to which will decide the next course of action to be taken. The Arduino is also connected to a TTGO T-Beam which helps to give out signals to alert user in case of increment of the carbon monoxide gas. The sensor's conductivity is higher along with the gas concentration. An LCD build in LoIMo will help display the measured carbon monoxide levels collected by the gas sensor for owners. The system's output will be a buzzer and led. These two components are crucial because they provide both an audible and visual alarm to alert the user to clear the area. A visual alarm is essential for assisting a person with impaired hearing. When the detected concentration of carbon monoxide is high and dangerous, the buzzer and led will activate, alerting the user to exit. Our device's primary power source will be an 18650 lithium battery. LoIMo is can be installed both indoors and outdoors as it's adaptable to various environments such as homes, cars, ships, and factories.

The TTGO T-Beam is an ESP32 development board with 4 MB Flash that directly interfaces with the EPS32 chip. It includes a SemTech SX1276 or SX1278 (LoRa transceiver) for LoRaWAN communication as well as an U-Blox Neo-6M GPS receiver. The LoRa module is a low-range, low-power consumption component that will help capture data over a wide area, while the GPS module will pinpoint the location where the data was received. The TTGO T-Beam will be connected to the Arduino, along with the MQ-9 carbon monoxide sensor, LED, LCD, and Piezo Buzzer. This allows data detected by the MQ-9 sensor to be transmitted via WiFi network or LoRaWAN to a web server depending on the gateway chosen which will then be stored into a database or software such as mySQL and Microsoft Power BI for us to analyse the raw data before releasing it to a website for the public.

The analysed data will be posted to our public website, which will be easily accessible to the public and will allow them to view recent geospatial data readings of carbon monoxide levels all over the world through map visualisation methods such as Proportional Symbol Map. The website will include statistics on carbon monoxide levels reported on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. Recent news and carbon monoxide precautionary measures will also be available as users navigate the website. This website will help raise public awareness as well as provide a platform for researchers looking for global data on carbon monoxide levels, which correlates with rising carbon emissions.

(Proposed Security Measures)
-Database security measures:
Raw data that is collected by the LoIMo device will be sent to the database for analysis purposes. This data cannot be accessed publicly by the user through our own website. The private information of the device user will not be shared for the public. Only the admin of this system is able to access the database.

(Mass Producing LoIMo)
LoIMo is simple to create, and the device is small in size. LoIMo is also a cost-effective device, as it has several functions such as monitoring CO levels, alerting people, and so on. All of the components used to construct this LoIMo device are readily available on the market. The components are easily available in the market for developers.

Inspiration

Our interest in the subject arose as the number of carbon monoxide poisoning reports in Malaysia gradually increased over time. We started looking for other reports on carbon monoxide emissions and discovered that Malaysia's total carbon monoxide emissions in 2020 were estimated to be around 2.31 million metric tonnes. The US Environmental Protection Agency estimates that motor vehicle exhaust accounts for up to 95% of all CO emissions in cities. Catalytic converters use chemical reactions to convert harmful substances in exhaust gases such as carbon monoxide, nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide, and hydrocarbons into less harmful substances such as carbon dioxide and water vapour.Highway vehicles, on the other hand, emit approximately 1.6 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere each year, the vast majority of which are carbon dioxide (CO2), contributing to global climate change. Each gallon of gasoline consumed produces 20 pounds of GHG. This equates to 6 to 9 tonnes of GHG emissions per year for the average vehicle. Carbon monoxide can remain in the atmosphere for months before reacting with oxygen to form carbon dioxide. As a result, many human activities and inventions, such as combustion engines, fires lit by farmers to clear forests or fields, and industrial processes that use fossil fuels, emit carbon monoxide. Wildfires and volcanoes are also natural sources of the gas. We as a team believe that in order to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, we must first think small to solve bigger problems of the climate.

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